Meeting Up With History
By RasmaSandra
@RasmaSandra (91800)
Daytona Beach, Florida
June 14, 2025 3:32pm CST
Again my online travels have amazed me. I found the passenger lists and the ship my parents took when they left Germany for the New World. They boarded the General Harry Taylor at Bremerhaven, Germany on January 12. My mom Elvira Raisters was 39 and my dad Eriks Raisters was 45. They arrived in New York Harbor on January 22, 1951.
During their voyage my dad unpleasantly slammed a finger in the door and with no antestetic was plied with vodka while the doctor fixed it. Many moons later I had the displeasure of slamming the same finger in an apartment door. Like father like daughter.
On the amusing side I found a photo of my father taken somewhere in Germany where he is holding a leg against a tree. As a teenager I went with her to visit mom's friends guess where? in Offenbach, Germany. There I had a photo taken of me in their garden holding one leg against a tree. After I found the photo of my father I put both together and isn't it amazing talking about family ties.
11 people like this
10 responses
@RasmaSandra (91800)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
11 Jul
@RebeccasFarm wish they both were still around
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@RasmaSandra (91800)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
15 Jun
@Ronrybs it all worked out all right with my finger just two small scars on either side of the finger. Guess which one? The middle finger on my left hand the same as my dad injured,
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@Ronrybs (20940)
• London, England
16 Jun
@RasmaSandra Runs in the family, I guess!
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@RasmaSandra (91800)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
15 Jun
@AmbiePam I never knew this until mom pointed the photo out to me in an album. The wildest part is that we both were photographed in Germany, I mean what were the odds me being born in NYC.
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@rakski (149387)
• Philippines
15 Jun
@RasmaSandra true.
That is good that you inherit his brilliant mind
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@RasmaSandra (91800)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
15 Jun
@rakski and his brilliant mind inherited as well since dad was popular Latvian poet and writer and I continue the writing and poetry legacy,
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@LindaOHio (208182)
• United States
15 Jun
Very interesting. I've never looked up the arrivals of my mother and father in this country.
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@RasmaSandra (91800)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
15 Jun
@LindaOHio if they were immigrants you should try
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@LindaOHio (208182)
• United States
16 Jun
@RasmaSandra Yes they were both from Italy.
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@Ineeddentures (13220)
•
14 Jun
Firstly let me say what a cute girl ......
Family ties
Yes indeed
Like father like daughter twice.
I take it you didn't get plied with vodka?
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@RasmaSandra (91800)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
14 Jun
@Ineeddentures as scared as i was getting my finger sewn I would have preferred some vodka but at 16 not even the docs would have thought of it. Instead it was the old finger needle jab,
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@Ineeddentures (13220)
•
14 Jun
@RasmaSandra
Give me the vodka
I don't like needles
Ouch
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@RasmaSandra (91800)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
15 Jun
@Jenaisle you are so right and I love it that some of my photos I can view on the PC
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@RasmaSandra (91800)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
15 Jun
@allknowing luckily that photo of my dad had survived all the travels
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@RasmaSandra (91800)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
14 Jun
@Juliaacv had my father been alive when I posed for that photo he would have remembered doing the same and would have laughed so much
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@RasmaSandra (91800)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
15 Jun
@JudyEv just wish I had had him longer than ten years,
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